Assessment of Potential Aerodrome Obstacles on Flight Safety Operations Using GIS: A Case of Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos-Nigeria

Abstract

The study focuses on the spatial analysis of the threat of potential Aerodrome obstacles on flight safety operations, in Murtala Mohammed Airport, Ikeja Lagos State. The study arises from the cases of flight safety in Nigerian airports which begins from the time passengers board the flight to the take-off time and location, the taxing of the plane and ends at the landing. The research employs GIS to model the 3D obstacles of the aerodrome, which demonstrated the ability in classifying the various threats on the aerodrome. The data acquired for this study ranging from primary data which included georeferencing of the obstacles that are found along the aerodrome with a Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) to secondary data which included all base maps and satellite images. The spatial data conversion and manipulations were done using the ArcGIS 10.3.1 software. The 3D simulation of the obstacles was done in the ArcScene environment. To examine the spatial patterns of the obstacles around the aerodrome, the Average Nearest Neighbour Analysis (ANN) was used as statistical function from ArcGIS. The obstacles found within the MM2 aerodrome were grouped into the tolerant and non-tolerant ones. However, the finding shows that MM2 aerodrome conforms to ICAO standards and recommended practices. The study thus recommends strict daily monitoring of flight route to mark objects for foundation on the non-tolerance zones.